BacktrackBad to My World

After two full-lengths and an almost three-year absence from their once relentless road schedule, Backtrack have returned with Bad to My World, an album that continues the group's polished output of New York hardcore worship.

Vocalist James Vitalo is regarded as a charismatic frontman live, and his recorded performance on Bad to My World is equally as alluring. Lyrically and vocally, this might be his best work yet with the band. The title track, "One With You" and "War" have a merciless intensity that places Vitalo and company into a realm of longevity that their prior efforts fell just short of. Not that there was much to fix — being uncompromisingly influenced by Breakdown and Outburst surely doesn't qualify as broken.

Guitarist Ricky Singh brings thrashier elements to the table on "Never Ending Web," but they end too abruptly for listeners to truly appreciate his creativity — and with the entire album clocking in at just over 20 minutes, this is a reoccurring complex with Bad to My World. That said, it's hard to complain when it's also punctuated by such greatness as the "break!" mosh call in "Gutted" and the mid-paced, No Warning-esque riffage in "Dead at the Core"; if only it all went on forever.
(Bridge Nine)